The U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,517 discloses an apparatus for processing tissue samples. On a rotatable table a plurality of processing containers are provided for the sample processing. The table is rotatable so that the processing containers can be transported to a processing station at which the tissue samples are successively immersed in different processing liquids. For a suitable tempering of the actually used processing liquids a heating and cooling device is permanently mounted to the housing of the apparatus. Since the heating and cooling device extends into the area of the table, it is extremely inconvenient and requires a plurality of manipulation steps to exchange the rotatable table.